A Quick Overview
Vehicles are attached with various methods. We’ve briefly discussed weld-on panels, but there are also adhesives, clips, rivets, blots, and screws. In this lesson we’re going to discuss panels that are attached with clips, rivets, nuts, bolts and screws.
Designs have changed quite a lot over the years. Older model cars required extensive adjusting skills to properly align the bolt-on panels. This was a good and bad thing. The good thing about is that there were enough adjustments to make body lines and gaps match up. However, too many adjustments could also become frustrating at the same time. Modern day cars have fewer adjustments. This is because unibody cars allow less tolerance. In other words, the structure must be properly aligned for the sheet metal to align. If you did not properly align the structure when pulling, it will show up after sheet metal is put on. So hiding bad frame work by aligning the sheet metal is not an option with unibody cars.
With that said, you are still going to have to align sheet metal and there are some rules to follow that will help you make the proper adjustments.
R&R – R&I
Bolt on panels are going to fall under two categories. The first is removing and replace (R&R). This is when parts will be removed and replaced with new or used parts. The other category it remove and install (R&I).
This is when you remove a part and install the same part back onto the vehicle. This is required when you may have to remove parts to access the damaged parts.
Trick for R&I
Many times when you are removing and installing the same part, it will have a paint mark or stains where the bolts were located. This makes it simple to place the bolts back to the same place that they were at before the part was removed. You can also use a grease pencil to mark the attachment points, which will give you a reference when re-installing the parts. This can same time and will only require minimum adjustment, if any, when installing parts. However, you will not have this advantage when replace with new parts. This may require additional aligning.
What do I align to?
This is something that you need to determine before starting the aligning process. If you are only changing one part; it’s a simple process. However if you are replacing an entire side of a car, it can become more challenging. The sequence that you align your sheet metal must follow this order. Always start with what will not adjust. For example, let␣␣ remove all of the sheet metal from a car and re-install and align it. First you want to start with the door. If it is a four door, start with the rear door. This is because you must align it to the quarter panel and the rocker panel. Once the rear door is aligned to the quarter and rocker panel, you can now move to the front door and align it to the rear door and rocker panel. Then the fenders and hood. When aligning sheet metal that latch, such as doors, hoods, and deck lids, you also need to remove the latches or strikers. You want the part to align without latching. It is a common mistake to allow the latch or striker do the final adjusting, for example, moving the panel up, down, to the left or right making the alignment. We want the door to properly align without the help of the latch or striker. Then we can install and adjust the striker or latch to fit the door.
Now that we know this, we have the rear door aligned to the quarter and rocker, as they are stationary. Next, we adjusted the front door to the rear door and rocker panel. Next we can move to the front end. Install the fender, but only snug the bolts hand tight. This will allow you to do some fine adjustments. Now go ahead and align the back of the fender to the front of the door and snug them down. Care must be taken that you gap has enough clearance to clear the fender so paint will not be chipped off when opening the door. Once you have the rear of the fender aligned to the door, we can install the hood panel. Remember, we have not tightened up the front of the fender yet, so we can still make adjustments. But before aligning the fender to hood, you must align the hood to the cowl panel. The center the hood should properly align with the hood latch when installed. Now that the hood is installed, you can now align the front of the fender to the hood and tighten everything down. The bumpers or bumper covers and other front end pieces, such as lights, grills, etc, can be installed.
It is important that you follow this sequence. If not, you may find that the rear door will not properly align to the quarter panel….and you are not going to be able to make any adjustments to the quarter.
Gaps
Gaps are a give-away to people that something is wrong. Even the untrained eye can see uneven body gaps. Therefore, a great deal of time should be taken to assure the gaps are the same. There are gap measurement tools that will give you the exact measurement that a gap should be. However, paint sticks have helped me align many panels. The paint stick can be placed between the panels while the panel is tightened down. Depending on the gap, I have also used two paint stick placed on one another to help me create a wider gap.
Protect Edges
One thing that you will need to be extremely careful with is the panel edges. For example, if you bump the edge of a panel to the adjacent panel causing a scratch, you may have to repaint the part. This is especially true with fresh paint.
One way to help eliminate this is to apply one or two layers of masking tape to the edge to protect the edges from being scratched or damaged.
Pre-Alignment
It is also important to test fit your panels before the final installation. The last thing that you want is to paint a fender and scratch it putting it one. By pre-fitting it, you can make the needed adjustments and tweak the fender if needed. This way, the fender will be a perfect fit when installed.
Making It Fit
It would be great if panels always fit perfect, but that is not a reality. This is especially true when working with aftermarket sheet metal. During the test-fit you may have to make minor adjustments to make the part fit properly. This may include slight shaping, twisting or whatever it takes to make it fit. This is why it’s important to make your test fit and adjustments before painting the panel. This will prevent the headache of trying to make last minute tweaks, while trying not to damage the panel.
Paint the Panel on the Car
Some shops may prefer to paint the panel on the car. If this is the case, you can edge the panel, and then install it before painting. Once on the vehicle, the panel can be prepped and ready for paint. Depending on the repair shop or circumstances may determine if you paint the part on or off of the vehicle.
Painting Parts off Vehicle
The advantages of painting part off of the vehicles are: edge inside and paint outside of part at the same time, everything is stripped, moldings, trim, bolts, etc. This will result in a cleaner paint job. The obvious disadvantage is the extra care that must be taken when installing the part, as it has fresh paint. Many shops that concerned about lean or cycle times may use this system.
Painting Parts Installed
The advantages of painting parts on the car is that you will not chance damaging the fresh paint during installation. The disadvantages are having two separate spraying operations to get the part painted. For example, you will need to mix paint, spray paint, and clean the gun two times. Once during edging and once when painting the outside of the part.
Both methods will achieve a professional repair. It will just depend on procedures that that shop that you work at has set in place.
Shims
When panels had more adjustments, we used to used shims to help us align panels. This is a slotted piece of metal that could be place between the parts. For example, if the rear of the front fender is sitting low, you could place a shim between the fender and car body, which would set the fender higher. However, I do not see shims as much as I used to, but they can be a life saver if used sparingly.
The Dollar Trick
One way I was taught how to test door fits at the first dealership that I worked at was how to use a dollar to determine if a door closes properly. This is done by placing a dollar bill between the seals between the door and body, then pulling it out. If it pulls out too easy, then the door is too loose and adjustments must be made.
If you were unable to pull the dollar out, then the door was too tight and adjusts must be made. The correct fit was when the dollar pulled out with a little force. The dollar techniques can be performed all the way around door checking fit.
Think It Through
The trick to aligning panels is to take your time and think about what adjustments that you have on each panel. Think about what all that certain adjustment will affect. For example, if move the lower door hinge on the body side forward towards the front of the car, you are going to tighten the gap between the door and fender, but also widen the gap between the front door and rear door, This will also lower the rear of the door, which may result in an height misalignment. Just think it through and try it. Panel alignment takes practice. This is going to take hands-on training to get the hang of it.
Clips
This is the one thing that aggravates me. I do not know why there cannot be some type of standardized clip variation, like there is with bolts and nuts. No, clips are complicated. There is always a new clip out there that you have to determine how to remove without breaking it, which is impossible sometimes. Once the clip is broke, you must order the clip if you do not stock them. I think it would be impossible to have every clip needed in inventory. However, more clips are being used on cars, so I should stop complaining and deal with it.
When removing clips, examine them first to determine how they are removed. If you just start yanking and pulling, you may damage the clips and the parts that you are removing. There are special clip tools that will help you remove clips without damaging them.
Bag It
This is a tip that will save you time and money in the end. Always bag your hardware. I have a funny story about this. I convinced the students working on a long project to bag everything. This was a car that was heavily damaged, and many different students worked on the car throughout the school year. Towards the end of school, we finally had the car repaired and ready to put back together. The students did a great job of bagging all of the hardware, but I realized that the bags were not labeled. We had a container full of bags, but this did not do us much good when we tried to determine what went where. Therefore, always label the bags too. For example, on one bag write right front fender. Then put all of the hardware to the right front fender into the bag. Have a separate bag for each part that you remove.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
I recommend to always do this, but if it is a quick job; 1 or 2 days and you’re the only one working on the car, you’re probably going to remember where everything goes. However, if it is a long project or especially restoration jobs, this will help you considerably. Another thing that you may consider when taking parts off is to take a digital photo of the parts and use them as a reference when reassembling.
Store
Do not store parts in the car. This can create additional dirt and stains that will require cleaning at another time.
Screws and parts on the floor board and/or seat may result in the hardware getting kicked or knocked out during the repair process. Some shops really frown on this and it a good habit to avoid. Therefore, store parts and hardware in designated containers. The best method is to use a rolling rack that can be moved with the car.
That way, all parts and hardware will be in one place and you will know exactly where to get the parts when you are ready for them. For hardware, use a container and place the container on the cart.
Always keep the damaged parts until the job is completed. If you throw the parts away to soon, you may find that you forgot to remove a clip or molding off of the old part. You can also use the damaged parts as a reference if needed. Once the job is out the door, you can do whatever you want with the damaged parts.
New Parts
When your new parts come in be sure to inspect them for damage and make sure that it’s the correct part. If the part is damaged, you may need to call the parts business that you ordered the part from and discuss it with them. I have had the business pick the damaged part up and brink another one, but they have also paid repair time as well. This will depend on your relationship the policies that the parts business has in place. If you are not familiar with the parts company or have never done business with them before, it would be a good idea to inspect the part while the delivery driver is still there. This will allow you to refuse the part on the spot and request a new one be sent.
Front Clip
Some cars and pick-ups (body over frame) allow you to replace the entire front end clip. When I used to purchase front clips, they would send me the bumper, header panel, (if it had one) grill, radiator, ac condenser, front fenders, and the hood. This worked great as you could take the front clip off as an assembly, not many bolts and remove the entire front assembly. Then you could make any necessary repairs and take the used clip that was purchased at a salvage yard and install the entire clip as assembly. This saves a lot of time when doing it this way. Make the adjustments that you need to align the fenders to the doors and tighten the bolts in the rear of the fenders. Now, with the radiator bolts still lose, you can shift the front end to the right or left to align the front end of the vehicle. That’s it! It’s a simple process. This is an option when there was a front end wreck damaging the grill, hood, and fenders.
That is a quick overview. The only other advice that I have concerning blot on parts is to do it. Like anything else, it going to takes practice.